


Bitter Venom

by threedices



Series: Kakashi rare pairs [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Conspiracy, Depression, Developing Friendships, Dubious Ethics, F/F, Hatake Kakashi Has Issues, Hatake Kakashi-centric, Implied Hatake Sakumo/Orochimaru (Naruto), Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Intoxication, M/M, Manipulative Sarutobi Hiruzen, Mildly Dubious Consent, Missing-Nin Hatake Kakashi, Mitarashi Anko has issues, Morally Ambiguous Character, POV Hatake Kakashi, Pre-Canon, Relationship Issues, Secrets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-24 08:03:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20702630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threedices/pseuds/threedices
Summary: Sarutobi asks Kakashi to infiltrate Orochimaru's den, by seduction.Gai is clueless and absent, Genma sent on a month long mission and Anko is the one giving Kakashi advice - or maybe seducing him.





	Bitter Venom

Kakashi's sword clashed with Kusanagi.

It was paramount for him to stall Orochimaru, so he blurted out the first thing that he thought might work.

"You're beautiful."

Orochimaru froze and Kakashi saw that his were wide with surprise.

This was the second most awkward mission of his life, beaten only by the time a client's daughter asked him to help her lose her virginity.

At least Orochimaru wouldn't be interested.

(Kakashi hoped.)

Sarutobi had looked especially grave that day.

Kakashi had tried to look attentive, but his night had been filled with nightmares and memories.  
He wasn't at his best.

(His father's birthday was coming up. Kakashi tried to forget that fact.)

Sarutobi sighed. "You are singularly well fit for this mission." He paused. "Few know or remember this, but Orochimaru was rather fond of your father." 

Kakashi felt the mention of his father .like a stab wound.  
Stab wounds were easier to take care of, though.

"Kakashi, I regret having to ask so much of you."

But you will, Kakashi thought, you will do it anyway.

His throat felt tight. "Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi looked old and tired.  
Sad.  
But he continued and his voice didn't shake.

"We need to know what he plans. You are in a unique position to get close to him."

Kakashi had nodded and accepted.

There was no other option, but he appreciated the illusion of choice.

Over the next few days, weeks, months, Kakashi slipped farther and farther away.  
Into depression, into resentment.

At his father's birthday, he had deliberately crossed the path of an old shinobi who still openly held a grudge against the White Fang.

Kakashi only needed to play upon his hatred and dial up his own emotion, show a bit of vulnerability and pain.

The man was like a vulture with a carcass, quick to descend.

It took several such incidents to make it round the jounin lounge for someone to offer support.  
Kakashi had been careful to time it with Gai's absence.  
Otherwise, it wouldn't have taken more than a couple of hours for Gai to come and cheer him up.  
Gai was reliable like that.

(Kakashi admitted to himself that he would miss him.)

Genma wasn't out of the village and that quickly became a problem.

"I will take care of it. You have my permission to involve Anko," Sarutobi said, without looking up.

He smoked more often these days, Kakashi thought and his eyes didn't wander over the paper.

Instead of calling unwanted attention to his observations, he saluted and left.

Genma was out of the village a day later. On a month long mission, Kakashi heard.

Finding Anko was easy.

Convincing her to help him infiltrate Orochimaru was not.

"He will chew you up and spit you out," she said, unsmiling and serious in Kakashi's favourite privacy protecting restaurant.

She ordered another bottle and went on to tell him about Orochimaru.

Kakashi was half convinced she was exaggerating her stories to scare him away, but his stomach was easier to convince.  
Needless to say, he went to Ichiraku afterwards to remind himself why he was doing this.

Kushina's memory called him an idiot.

He was wasted enough that he toasted the room in her name.

Good thing her son wasn't there.

The boy was another reason to take this mission.  
(Not that he could refuse. He'd have to be dead for that and Kakashi had decided long ago he wouldn't make anyone suffer through finding his body.)

Naruto was a few months into the academy and already infamous.

Kakashi felt a certain amount of second hand fondness for that reason alone.

If he didn't leave, Kakashi would get attached or worse, get assigned as Naruto's jounin sensei.

It made seem Orochimaru like the lesser evil.  
Slightly.

Not that Naruto was in any way evil.  
He was just there.  
That was enough to make Kakashi feel things and so it was better if he left.

At least Anko was willing to be bribed.

With copious amount of alcohol and some of his A and B ranks, which he ensured Sarutobi agreed on, she was willing to help him figure out Orochimaru.

Or at least allowed him to pick her brain.

"I have no idea what he's thinking. Never had. When he left, it was like a punch in the gut. Hurt worse, though." She took another swig and got more comfortable in their usual booth, her words hushed and slurred.

"You will not know it, until he wants you to."

"Know what?"

"Anything. Everything. How much he is going to stab you in the back."  
The alcohol sloshed around in the bottle she was holding and currently drinking straight from.

The downside to getting Anko to talk about Orochimaru, Kakashi mused, was how much alcohol it.

With how often he had to bring her home, the staff probably mistook them for a couple.  
Or they would if Kakashi wasn't famous for his non-commitment.

"You're wasted on him," Anko slurred when Kakashi put her down on her bed.

He waited a beat to say, just lightly enough, "I think the only one wasted here are you."

Anko blinked sluggishly and managed to lean up on her elbows.  
She frown up at him, a strange look in her eyes.  
"He doesn't deserve you," she said and in that split second it took Kakashi to swallow hard she looked entirely serious.

He patted her shoulder awkwardly, but she grabbed his arm and rose on her knees.

Her smile was rueful when she leaned forward, holding Kakashi in place more with anticipation than force.  
"Stay," she whispered and kissed him.

Kakashi wasn't strong enough to resist a kiss, but he was not willing to make drunken mistakes.  
Not even if they weren't his own.

"Sleep." He pushed Anko back on the bed and went to the other side to lie beside her.

He kept his clothes on, because there was only so far he could restrain himself.

So he slept a night in Anko's apartment, turned away from her and half dreaded, half hoped she would be sober tomorrow.

He liked Anko.  
She could do better.

If anyone deserved Kakashi's attachment, it was indeed Orochimaru.  
In fact there were few people who deserved it more.  
Maybe that would finally do him in.

Here's to hoping, Kakashi thought.


End file.
